If you were following two weeks ago, you recall my recap of the
Board's decision to refuse registration to "PRINCESS
KATE" and "ROYAL KATE" on the grounds that potential
consumers would think of Kate Middleton (actually a Duchess) when
they saw the marks i.e. Kate Middleton has the right to control the
right of publicity and to control the commercialization of her
identity. While a famous person generally has to right to control
the commercialization of his or her identity, a decision by the
U.S. District Court in Alabama on February 9 in Rosa and
Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development v. Target
Corporation shows that such control is limited.
We all know Rosa Parks, an African-American woman who became, in
the words of the Court, "an icon of the Civil Rights movement
when she refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a
racially segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her actions ignited
the Montgomery Bus Boycott."
